Sam Jordan's Bar gets landmark status

ON SAN FRANCISCO Sam Jordan's has been the place in Bayview for decades

C.W. Nevius, Chronicle Columnist

Updated 3:01 am, Thursday, January 24, 2013

Bartender Denise Tucker gets ready to open at Sam Jordan's Bar in the Bayview.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Bartender Denise Tucker gets ready to open at Sam Jordan's Bar in...

Allen Jordan holds a flyer from when his dad ran for mayor at Sam Jordan's in San Francisco, Calif., Monday, January 21, 2013. The bar recently obtained landmark status.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Allen Jordan holds a flyer from when his dad ran for mayor at Sam...

On Sunday, Sam Jordan's will celebrate its 54th year as the place where the neighborhood goes.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

On Sunday, Sam Jordan's will celebrate its 54th year as the place...

Sam Jordan's Bar has seen many celebrities over the years. Photos including Sammy Davis Jr., top right, are shown in San Francisco, Calif., Monday, January 21, 2013. The bar recently obtained landmark status.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Sam Jordan's Bar has seen many celebrities over the years. Photos...

Allen Jordan, son of Sam Jordan, gets ready to open the kitchen at Sam Jordan's Bar. He has seen generations of customers there.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Allen Jordan, son of Sam Jordan, gets ready to open the kitchen at...

A sign on the wall barring rap music from customer appreciation Tuesdays at Sam Jordan's Bar is shown in San Francisco, Calif., Monday, January 21, 2013. Ruth Jordan, daughter of Sam Jordan, now runs her father's bar, which recently obtained landmark status. The Jordans say Tuesdays draw an older crowd, so they cater the music to their tastes.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

A sign on the wall barring rap music from customer appreciation...

Bartender Denise Tucker gets ready to open at Sam Jordan's Bar in San Francisco, Calif., Monday, January 21, 2013. The bar recently obtained landmark status.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Bartender Denise Tucker gets ready to open at Sam Jordan's Bar in...

Allen Jordan, son of Sam Jordan, gets ready to open the kitchen at Sam Jordan's Bar in San Francisco, Calif., Monday, January 21, 2013. The bar recently obtained landmark status.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Allen Jordan, son of Sam Jordan, gets ready to open the kitchen at...

Sam Jordan's photo, center, is featured along with other family members on the wall of Sam Jordan's Bar in San Francisco, Calif., Monday, January 21, 2013. The bar recently obtained landmark status.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Sam Jordan's photo, center, is featured along with other family...

Sam Jordan's Bar is shown in San Francisco, Calif., Monday, January 21, 2013. The bar recently obtained landmark status.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Sam Jordan's Bar has seen many celebrities over the years. Photos including Sammy Davis Jr., top right, are shown in San Francisco, Calif., Monday, January 21, 2013. The bar recently obtained landmark status.
Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

As a bar, barbecue restaurant and nightclub, Sam Jordan's on Third Street isn't very big. But as a cornerstone of the Bayview community, it is huge.

On Sunday, Sam Jordan's will celebrate its 54th year as the place in the neighborhood where everybody goes. If you are running for office, taking out a first date, or hankering for a turn at the karaoke microphone, there's only one choice, Sam's.

"On Sunday, we will probably have some old-timers," said Allen Jordan, son of the founder, Sam. "And we will have their kids and their kids' kids."

This week, Sam Jordan's will officially be designated a San Francisco historic landmark. Which raises the question: What took so long?

Honestly, this isn't about the merits of the building, which was erected in 1883. There are other structures from that time in the area.

This is really about Sam's as a cultural outpost and about the legacy of Sam Jordan.

"I am just excited to see an African American establishment recognized," said Supervisor Malia Cohen, who represents the district. "As we feel the pinch of gentrification and urban flight, there will be a record of this African American business."

There's a reason Sam Jordan named the bar after himself when he took it over in 1959. He'd become a recognizable figure in the city from his boxing success in the San Francisco Golden Gloves. A light-heavyweight, Jordan won the championship diamond belt in 1948.

But there were lots of boxers. Jordan distinguished himself by serenading the crowd after every win. That's how he became known as "Singing Sam." He continued to benefit from that outgoing personality when he opened the bar.

As Sam Jordan's Tavern (the bar's original name) became well known, he became a friend of Sammy Davis Jr., and brought in major acts like Big Mama Thornton and Sugar Pie DeSanto, an award-winning Bay Area blues singer. Jordan also earned a reputation for lending a hand in the community.

Longtime patrons remember a small table that was set up at the front of the bar. A man who couldn't afford to pay could come in, sit down and wait for Sam to bring him a free meal.

"He was a father to a lot of kids," Allen says. "Some through blood and some though love."

By the time Jordan took over the bar, the neighborhood was still considered Butchertown, where slaughterhouses and meat-packing companies were prevalent, but heavy industry and the ship-building effort of World War II also helped create a neighborhood clientele that supported the bar.

That was how Sam Jordan earned his other nickname, "The Mayor of Butchertown."

Ruth Jordan, Sam's daughter, who manages the books at the bar, remembers when they walked the streets of San Francisco, everyone seemed to know her dad.

"I knew he was somebody, but to me he was just Dad," she said. "He wasn't just in this neighborhood. He was named an honorary Irishman in the Mission and he used to know everybody in North Beach."

In 1963, Jordan became the first African American to run for mayor. Jordan finished fourth in a field of eight, despite the FBI local field office's attempts to "undermine" his campaign by sending a letter suggesting communists had infiltrated his campaign, the city's landmark designation report said.

It was such a colorful legacy that after Sam died in 2003, the family was repeatedly asked why there was no historical recognition. Clyde Colen, Ruth's fiance, says he was asked so often he decided to look into it.

The process turned out to be long, tiring and complicated. But with the help of others, he followed it through. On Friday, Mayor Ed Lee will sign documents officially designating Sam Jordan's as a historical landmark.

"And," Colen said, "although I never met the man, I like to think Sam would be proud."